RETURN OF COTTONSEED TO THE SOIL WITHOUT THE INTERVENTION OF OIL-MILLS. A.-DIRECT.-It is well known that cottonseed is readily killed by "heating" when kept in large, and especially wet, piles; that the kernels shrink and become brown, and that finally a strong odor of ammonia announces that a large proportion of this most valuable fertilizing substance is escaping. Intelligent farmers have therefore long since been in the habit of letting the seed heat and "kill" in the ground, so as to let the earth absorb the ammonia, or else to compost the pile with muck, plaster, or other proper absorbents. In the former practice it has been found that the use of fresh cottonseed, and still more that of seed-cake meal, is liable to kill seedlings in the immediate neighborhood. This has been attributed to the excessive evolution of ammonia; but some observations having led me to doubt this explanation, I made, in 1871 and 1872, a series of observations and experiments at the University of Mississippi as to the best methods of using these fertilizers and the causes of the occasional bad effects. The latter became abundantly apparent upon submitting a quantity of fresh oil-cake meal to fermentation with a moderate amount of water. Within twenty-four hours a pungent odor, but not of ammonia, became very perceptible in the heated mass; and upon distillation I obtained a not inconsiderable quantity of a very ill-flavored alcohol. The deadly effects of this substance upon the delicate rootlets of seedlings is easily understood, and also the simple method that may be adopted to avoid all trouble from this source, by a "heating" of the seed or seed-cake meal previous to putting in the ground; provided, of course, that the fermentation is stopped short by drying or other means before the evolution of ammonia begins. This confirms the soundness of the long-established practice of "killing the seed" before using it in close connection with other seeds. Meal not previously heated may be used with impunity, provided it is thoroughly mixed with a large proportion of earth. In connection with the same experiments it was found that when the wetted meal is first composted with plaster to absorb the ammonia, and then allowed to sour, it acts most energetically upon bone-meal, and even bone-ash, in rendering them efficacious as fertilizers; thus replacing in a very good measure the effect of sulphuric acid in performing the same service under the hands of the manufacturers of fertilizers, but at nominal expense and at home.

Decomposition of whole seed in the soil.—Another series of experiments was made to test the progress of the decomposition of whole cottonseed buried in the soil. Seed that had been used abundantly under a "seed-bed" of sweet potatoes was examined six months afterward. By far the greater proportion of the seeds were still whole, a number having been perforated either by the rootlets or by insects. The whole seeds were very light, and contained a brown, shrunken kernel, which, upon analysis, was found to contain fully 75 per cent. of the mineral ingredients of the original seed, of which a similar number from the same lot was examined. It was plain that the sweet potatoes and the weeds following them had during all that time been unable to extract from the oily seeds more than a small proportion of their plant-food, but had been benefited chiefly by the ammonia that was given off in the shape of gas at first, and that subsequent crops would get the chief benefit of the mineral plant-food in succeeding years. This result is in accordance with the oft-repeated assertion of cotton-growers that cottonseed put in the ground whole benefits corn more than cotton during the first year. Corn will bear a heavy application of ammoniacal manures, whereas cotton is liable to run to weed and boll poorly under their influence. After the corn has taken up the ammonia during the first season, cotton gets the full benefit of the phosphates and potash the next year.

The experiment shows, in addition, the benefit of the removal of the oil from the seed when desired for manure. The "whole" kernel is completely "preserved in oil" during the first season, and resists the decay which would render its ingredients accessible to plants; whereas, when freed from the oil, as in oil-cake meal, the process of decomposition is unchecked, and the entire stock of plant-food goes to the use of the crop the first season. This is an additional reason for converting the spare seed into oil-cake meal, even for manurial purposes.

B.-INDIRECT RETURN THROUGH THE MANURE OF ANIMALS FED WITH SEED OR SEED-CAKE.-It should be kept in mind that the manure of cattle fed with cottonseed or oil-cake is of especial value as a fertilizer for cotton and should be carefully preserved from waste. By far the safest method of obtaining complete returns to the soil is, in this as in other cases, the use as feed for sheep, which distribute the fertilizer in the most perfect manner, at the same time producing another fiber-wool-from the refuse of the same field that grew the cotton. The plan of "growing cotton and wool on the same field", so strongly advocated by Mr. Edward Atkinson, has been successfully tried by several persons, among them Mr. I. H. Moore, of Oakley, Arkansas, whose experience is given in a preceding page. There seems to be no valid reason why the advantages obtained by him through the feeding of sheep with cottonseed should not be realized by others; but it is true that to do so would involve a material change of policy in southern farming: first, as regards the growing of pasture grasses for the season when the seed is not available (althongh cake-meal would always be), and second, as regards the raising of the numberless dogs that infest the southern states, each laborer being allowed to keep as many curs as he pleases; and dogs are shown, statistically, to be more numerous, and, according to the shows and valuations made of them, to be more highly valued in some of the states than the useful but unattractive sheep. Southern farmers will soon, however, have to make a serious choice between the two races of domestic animals.

SOIL INVESTIGATION.

A full and accurate knowledge of the agricultural features and other industrial resources of a state is of the most direct and obvious importance to every one concerned in industrial pursuits. It is wanted by the immigrant or settler seeking a new home suitable to his tastes and resources, as well as by the large farmer and capitalist desiring to locate and invest to the best possible advantage. Most of the older states have long ago satisfied this demand in some form; mostly in connection with the public surveys, usually named, from their fundamental feature, geological surveys, but commonly charged as well with the full investigation of the other industrial features of the state. The demand for this kind of information is shown by the publication of numerous pamphlets and newspaper articles, describing more or less fully and correctly certain regions recommended for settlement; but the fact that these publications emanate largely from interested parties, and are compiled by persons unused to accurate observation of natural phenomena and not possessed of the means for thorough investigation, greatly reduces the usefulness of the large amount of correct information thus conveyed. Even the more ambitious class of publications in book form, purporting to give full descriptions of regions, states, or territories, are largely compilations from this class of literature, and, apart from the climatic, commercial, and general topographical data, rarely convey much of that specific, technical, and local information that is so necessary to the seeker for a permanent home, and which he must usually, after all, obtain at the expense and trouble of a personal visit.

Of the state surveys that have given close and specific attention to the agricultural features the first survey of Kentucky and that of Arkansas, by Dr. David Dale Owen, stand first in order of time. Dr. Owen was profoundly impressed with the advantages that a closer and more rational knowledge of the peculiarities of their soils would give those desiring to cultivate them rationally; and his assistants were instructed to gather from the mouths of the inhabitants all information extant in regard to the production, peculiarities, merits, and demerits of the several soils, and also to collect carefully samples of the same, noting all details as to depth, subsoil, drainage, "lay," natural vegetation, etc. These soil samples were afterward subjected to chemical analysis according to a definite and uniform method, and from a comparison and discussion of these Dr. Owen hoped to gain important data, not only with regard to these particular soils, but also with respect to the general functions of soils in vegetable nutrition, the cheapest and most needful modes of improving each one, and of maintaining its productiveness. These views are set forth in the text, especially of the first volume of the Kentucky report, and the effort to carry them into effect is apparent throughout these volumes. Dr. Owen's early death prevented him from entering upon a more general discussion of the subject and of the results deducible from the entire work.

When placed in charge of the geological and agricultural survey of the state of Mississippi the writer earnestly endeavored to carry out more fully the views suggested to him on the occasion of a personal visit by Dr. Owen; and finding before him a field containing an unusually great variety of strongly characterized soils, offering a wide and most interesting scope for comparison, he soon found himself engaged on a field of research almost unexplored and with but few landmarks left by previous investigators; most of the latter, too, pointing away from it, as being hopelessly intricate and beyond the power of our present means of research. But as the work progressed there came glimpses of light and results quite in accord with the general presumptions upon which the hope of ultimate -success rested; and with these before him, in the face of much indifference and adverse criticism, much of his lifework has been given to this speciality of physical and chemical soil investigation.

In the "report on the geology and agriculture of the state of Mississippi", printed in 1860, but not published until after the war, the writer adopted the express segregation of the subject into a "geological" portion, into which scientific facts and discussions are freely introduced, and an “agricultural" one, containing a description of the agricultural features of the state, subdivided into "regions", which of course conform more or less to the geological divisions, but at the same time correspond to well-defined and popularly recognized areas of similar agricultural conditions. In this second part of the report, intended for popular comprehension and use, all more recondite scientific or technical language is avoided as much as possible. The soil a alyses made up to the time of its going to press are communicated in connection with the descriptions of the several regions concerned, and their

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